Sprucing Up

Nothing like hosting a Bible Study in your home to get you in the mood to clean those, um... *cough* ... more neglected rooms of your home. I remember one time when I offered to let a new Mama lay their wee babe on my bed. I told her that our bedroom can sometimes be the room that gets left out.

She sighed and sad, "How sad... this is your honeymoon suite."
It kinda stuck with me... I was thinking of how often this room is looked over.
Yes, this room is basic. A bed, a dresser... end of story.
Functional, but still I would like for it to look nice, something more inviting. :)

You can print your own Mr. Darcy quote here

The small picture above with the words is something I printed out yesterday.
Such a romantic quote...

  You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. 

           Swooooooon!
I told my Sweetie where the quote came from and how that he can be my Mr. Darcy. haha

So after a bit of time and work, our little love nest is all fresh and clean.
We won't talk about the fact that there is no carpet or flooring, or the fact that the trim is still somewhat smudged from the robin's egg blue paint...
No, we will focus on the pretty. And it sure is pretty right now. :)
My Cup Runneth Over...

Our Favorite Granola

I have made granola for my family for quite a long time now. Many times, it has been made with sugar, brown sugar, chocolate chips, or whatnot and it seemed to defeat the purpose of granola.
Right?
So, I have been searching for a tasty but MUCH more healthy alternative. I found one on Soulemama's website and it is amazingly good.
This recipe comes from this book and is in my library queue as we speak, er I mean I type, you read. ;)

 Feeding the Whole Family: Cooking with Whole Foods by Cynthia Lair

You will have to follow this link to Soulemama's website to get the recipe, I haven't asked Cynthia Lair for permission to reprint it.

Nut and Seed Granola

I doubled the recipe for our family and just as Amanda said, it fits nicely into two half-gallon mason jars.

Last night we had it as an after dinner dessert sprinkled on top of fruit salad. 

It was delightful!

Blessings,

Crockpot Dyed Yarn-Revisited

Good Morning! I have had some plain wool yarn for several months now and have really wanted to try my hand at dying my own. So this past weekend I gave it a go. Instructions are below...
Fill your crockpot up with water and one bloop of vinegar. Lay your wool yarn in the crock and make sure it gets good and saturated. Turn your crock on high and cover and wait until the water begins to steam.
Once the water steams take the lid off and prepare your kool-aid mixture. Mix one packet of kool-aid with 1/2 cup boiling water and stir until dissolved. I used two colors, red and purple. Cherry and grape.
Carefully pour it alternating your colors.
Put lid on the crock and turn down to low. Let the yarn stay in the crockpot until all the color is absorbed. Then cool completely.
Rinse with cold water until water runs clear.
Carefully squeeze excess water from yarn. Lay between paper towels and roll up to extract more water. Then hang to dry until completely dry.
Once dry roll into a ball and think of what you are going to make with the yarn YOU dyed yourself! :) Or give as a gift!
Now that I have tried this with such success, I want to try my hand at dying with natural products. I look forward to the outcome! :)
Special thanks to my fellow homesteader KimMC for her wonderful idea and directions and VIDEO!
My Cup Runneth Over...

Ladies Retreat

Hello my friends! I am back, feeling afresh and anew.... I was just able to spend the weekend with some of the women of my church and what a WONDERFUL time we had.
The Lord just blessed me exceedingly. Our Bible studies were encouraging as well as convicting.
It was a very special time and I am so thankful I was able to be a part of it.
Here is our whole group... in our matching snowman pajamas. :)

What a blessing to be a part of a church that loves you.

I hope your weekend was beautiful also.

My Cup Runneth Over...

Moments...

This video blessed my heart so much and I wanted to share it with you. May you be encouraged and may you treasure your moments more...



My Cup Runneth Over...

Breadmaking Brainstorm

Lately, I have had a bit of trouble with my breadmaking. The house is so chilly, I can't get the bread to rise unless I heat up the oven and then turn it off and let it cool down enough to warm the dough and not bake it.
Ugh.
Until...
The other day I was dreaming about the day when I have my wood stove, it hit me! I realized until I get one I know where I can sit the dough!

I put it in front of our little heater and it worked just fine. Not as well as my wood stove will one day... ;) hee hee, but just fine.

We made cinnamon rolls to go along with our celebration dinner.
Celebration dinner you might ask????
Yep! We are celebrating that after being without a fulltime job since August 20th, my dear hubby got a brand new job and started on Monday, Jan. 17th. Almost 5!!! full months of searching and applying and looking.
Praise the Lord!
So indeed, we had to celebrate!!!!!!!!!!

Amish Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Icing

After we had the cinnamon rolls completed the girls helped me with some of our favorite dinner rolls. Our Better than Randy's Rolls. :)
There is a local restaurant that has pretty great rolls and when I first started making our own rolls the kids exclaimed.... "MOM! These are better than Randy's!!!"
Soooo, there you go.

Some of Cameo's best friends were staying with us for the day and they helped make up our Better than Randy's Rolls.

Fun in the kitchen and we had a lesson on  how economical it is to make your own foods from scratch rather than purchasing convenience foods as well as how much healthier they are too.
I wish Cameo was turned more toward the camera... her shirt says, 'My Mom Rocks' :) LOL!

My happy helpers... and the old adage is so true...

Many hands, make light work.


My Cup Runneth Over...

Taking another step...

Well, as I shared with you last week about our dishwashing time together, we took another step and instead of just not using the dishwasher, we sold it. :)
Yeah!
Here is what we were left with.

I have plans for finishing the inside and making some bins for potatoes and onions, but for now...

It is a perfect spot for a couple of our grain buckets, coconut oil, and the stepping stool for my little helper. :)
Just one more step toward becoming less dependant on 'things'. Yeah.... and the memories we will make in the process.
It's all good.
My Cup Runneth Over...

Scenes from the homestead...

My Cup Runneth Over...

An example of patience...

During all the snow, I got a very good lesson from my daughter Carlie. I had no idea of what was even going on. All I knew at first, was that she and her siblings had went to play in the snow with Daddy.  A good while later, I was clued in on the precious sight I got to capture.
Shannon walked in and said, "Have you seen Carlie?"
I was alarmed, and said, "Wasn't she outside with you???"
"Yes," he said, "that's not what I mean... I mean have you seen what she is up to?"
I hurried to the window and peered out in infatuation at my youngest daughter.
Patience
She was the most patient I have ever seen her.
And do you know what she was doing?
She wanted a bird to come and eat out of her hand.

There she was.
All bent down in the snow with snow and bird seed in her little hands waiting patiently on the birds to come and visit with her.
We have been bird watchers for a while now and she has been one of the most intrigued as we have had so many different varities come visit during the snow.

Closer...

I was just holding my breath while watching her...

And then... Winn-Dixie decided to go and visit.

I knew she was half frozen, so I called for her to come in.

Such a sweet sight. She perservered... even when it was cold, snowy and of little reward.
It was an excellent time of praise for her when she came inside.
Such a smile as you have ever seen.
May you be blessed and may you see the positive in the day and encourage the good.
My Cup Runneth Over...

Baby, it's cold outside

Our Mamie is quite the character.... she is always hamming it up for me and I love it.
During the early morning I gazed outside to see this.

Sorta testing the waters, so to speak... Checking things out... Deciding whether it was really worth it to venture outside.

A couple of the ladies decided it was not too bad and came out for a quick stroll in the artic jungle.
So... Ms. Mamie decides she should should give it a go...

Some little patch of goodness got her attention.

Abram went down to give her a little nudge, trying to make her realize it was ok to come outside.
Here's what she thought of that...
...you might want to click on the picture to get the full effect.

It. is. HILARIOUS!
May you enjoy the weather, no matter what it may be.
Blessings to you my friends.
My Cup Runneth Over...